Inflatable seals are used in industry to secure parts for processing. Where solutions are used in the processing, deposits can form on the inflatable seals, reducing the adhesion of the seal on the part, and transferring solution deposits to the part. Where the adhesion is reduced, additional pressure is required to secure the part to the inflatable seal, eventually leading to seal failure if enough pressure is applied. A typical process is catalytic converter honeycomb substrate coating. There, a solution is to be applied to the interior of a honeycomb substrate. Inflatable seals are used to secure the part in the coating system, and coating solution is passed through the interior of the honeycomb by pressure or vacuum. As the system operates, coating solution adheres to the seals. This results in insufficient sealing, which leads to coating the exterior of the substrate, part slipping, inaccurate coating, precious metal losses, and eventual shutdown. This invention allows the operator to continuously clean the sealing surfaces while running.
The invention described here cleans inflatable seals online. The current employment of the invention is in the catalytic converter coating industry, and is directly applicable to any industry where inflatable seals are used to secure parts. In this embodiment, a flat fan water spray is introduced to the seal surface in such a way as to clean deposits from the seal and wet the coating chamber, interfering with further deposits. The method used allows the operator to precisely control the quantity of water used for each cleaning cycle. In the current embodiment, water volumes of 0.1 to 3 milliliters per cleaning cycle have been accurately controlled.